From creator to partner: contacting, sequences and the partner pipeline

The pipeline, stage by stage

A person’s stage is not a field someone forgets to update. It is computed from the facts GetAff already holds — the prospect, the outreach sequence, the application, the partnership — and the deepest fact wins.

• Found — seen in a search, kept in your private library of found creators.
• Selected — shortlisted or added to your partners: to contact.
• Contacted — a sequence is running or has sent a step.
• Replied — the person answered: a reply to handle.
• Applied — an application or a pending partnership: to approve.
• Active partner — an approved partnership: affiliate link, clicks, sales.
• Dismissed — set aside by you, excluded by the compliance check, refused, or ended.

Each row of the list shows the person, the platform, the stage, the fit score, the last activity and the next action (“Contact”, “Wait for the follow-up”, “Reply”, “Approve or refuse”, “Track sales”). The “To handle” filter keeps only the people who are waiting for you.

Before the first message

Sending needs three things, and GetAff checks them before scheduling anything:

1. A connected mailbox. In the outreach settings, connect a Gmail mailbox through Google’s OAuth consent: GetAff sends from your own address, so replies land in your inbox and the conversation stays yours.
2. Complete sender settings: your name, your company and a postal address — the identity commercial e-mail law asks for — plus your time zone, sending window and follow-up delays.
3. A published program. The opening message carries an invite link to it, through the {{invite_link}} placeholder.

For creators without an address, the shortlist offers “Find e-mails”: paid lookups at the creator-data providers, on the Pro plan, with the cost shown before anything is spent. An address already on file is never replaced. A creator with no address can still be invited by link.

Write the sequence once

A sequence has three steps: an opening and two follow-ups. The composer prepares a draft from your program and the creator’s profile; you edit it, then confirm. What you approve is frozen for that person — a later edit of the draft does not change a sequence already running.

• Follow-ups go out by default 3 and 7 business days after enrolment, counted in the recipient’s time zone: “+3 days” from a Friday lands on a Wednesday, not on a Monday at dawn.
• Messages leave within a sending window, 09:00–17:00 local time by default, with a little jitter and a few minutes between two sends from the same mailbox — the rhythm of a person, not of a bulk tool.
• Daily caps per mailbox and per account protect your sender reputation.

Compliance is part of the send

The rules for unsolicited e-mail differ from one country to the next. Before a sequence is scheduled, GetAff evaluates the regime of the recipient’s country and asks for the attestations that apply — for example that the message is relevant to the person’s professional role, or that you assessed your legitimate interest. If something is missing, enrolment is refused and the screen says what to add.

Every message carries a one-click unsubscribe. An objection puts the address on the suppression list: it will not be contacted again, from any sequence, and its contact details are no longer shown. The legal basis and the source of the address are recorded with the sequence.

When the creator replies

GetAff checks your mailbox every ten minutes. A reply stops the sequence, moves the person to Replied, and puts them at the top of “To handle” with the badge on the Partners entry of the sidebar. The “Messages” view of the page lists the running sequences, replies first, then the next sends.

You answer from your own inbox, as you would any e-mail. When the creator applies through the invite link, they move to Applied; approving the application makes them an Active partner. A regulated profession cannot be approved: the compliance check dismisses it.

If you contacted someone outside GetAff, record it on their file (“Contacted outside GetAff”) so the pipeline stays truthful.

The person record

Open any row to see the record of that person — as a side sheet, or as a full page at /app/p/<siteId>/partners/<personId>. It gathers what used to be scattered:

• Identity and contact details: display name, e-mails (one primary, verified or not), phone, website, country, language, networks — paste a profile URL and the network and handle are detected — audience and tags. Each value shows its source: manual, index, provider, public bio, import or application.
• Activity: e-mails sent, follow-ups scheduled, replies, stage changes, edits, and your own notes and follow-up tasks with a due date, filterable by kind.
• Relationship per program: commissions, the affiliate link, clicks and sales once the partnership is active.
• Similar profiles, to widen the search from a creator who works.
• Data and consent: legal basis, source, any objection recorded, and the actions to export or delete the person’s data.

“Change stage” moves a person by hand where that makes sense; the stages that follow facts — an application, a partnership — stay tied to those facts.

Plugging in the rest of your stack

Two events matter most here: prospect.replied and partner.approved. A signed webhook delivers them to your CRM or to Slack the moment they happen — see Connecting GetAff to your CRM or Slack and the webhooks documentation. To fill the top of the pipeline, start with how the partner search works.